Protein Skimmer for AIO

[eliaslikesfish]

Just looking for a protein skimmer for my IM 40G AIO. My first thought was get the one specifically made by IM, I was going to do it but thought I might get some opinions from you guys first. I saw some good reviews on the Tunze 9004 skimmer and the aquamax hob 1.5. any experience with these and or other suggestions are greatly appreciated!

edit:
Additionally I want to change up my media in my filter caddy. I was running the IM purity pack but took it out and my corals started to thrive, however, keeping my nitrates down is now becoming a bit more cumbersome though. I was thinking of adding Chemi-Pure Blue and/or some bio-spheres. Thoughts are appreciated on this as well.

Thanks in advance

 

[Mr. Mojo Rising]

I have the aquamaxx and it is a very good unit, mine is about 4-5 years old and still works perfect.

Aquamaxx is rebranding to Aquaready, so all aquamaxx units are about 30% sale right now, while supplies last.

 

[eliaslikesfish]

bump for 2nd question

 

[goosemans]

What are your nitrate levels?

 

[Extremeengineer]

I have the 9004. I’m still giving it a chance a couple months in. It’s finicky, I have to play with adjustment constantly to try to maintain bubble level half way up exposed cylinder. I’m thinking of just taking it out and rebuilding it at this point to see if maybe something inside is just off. I really want to like it, has just been hard so far.

 

[yambeezy23]

Yes what are your nitrate levels and what are you stocking. Also what does feeding look like for you? Pellets or frozen?

I have a WB 35.2 and I hoover around 5-10 Nitrates and .03-.08 Phosphates with no protein skimmer. 4 total fish and pushing that to 7 total shortly. I do a 5 gallon water change every sunday.

In regards to your other question. I run chemipure elite and change it every other month. I have about 2 pounds of maxpect biospheres. I just added maxspect nano plugs to my rear chamber as well. I like to think its doing a good job lol

 

[eliaslikesfish]

Yes what are your nitrate levels and what are you stocking. Also what does feeding look like for you? Pellets or frozen?

I have a WB 35.2 and I hoover around 5-10 Nitrates and .03-.08 Phosphates with no protein skimmer. 4 total fish and pushing that to 7 total shortly. I do a 5 gallon water change every sunday.

In regards to your other question. I run chemipure elite and change it every other month. I have about 2 pounds of maxpect biospheres. I just added maxspect nano plugs to my rear chamber as well. I like to think its doing a good job lol

40G cube, 5 fish, mix of different frozen everyday. usually 1 heavy feeding as i always get home too late. nitrates always hover between 15-20, phosphates .1-.2, which my bubble algae and GSP both love

water changes 10g every other week.

 

[yambeezy23]

40G cube, 5 fish, mix of different frozen everyday. usually 1 heavy feeding as i always get home too late. nitrates always hover between 15-20, phosphates .1-.2, which my bubble algae and GSP both love

water changes 10g every other week.

Interesting! I feed heavy as well. I use filter floss and change that every 2-3 days so debris doesnt stay in the tank. Have you considered using chemi pure elite? That worked well for me keeping phosphates in check.

In regards to skimmers. If I were to use one I would use the Tunze 9004. Heard and read great things about it

 

[eliaslikesfish]

I have the aquamaxx and it is a very good unit, mine is about 4-5 years old and still works perfect.

Aquamaxx is rebranding to Aquaready, so all aquamaxx units are about 30% sale right now, while supplies last.

ended up ordering this one. any quirks or suggestions for it?

 

[Mr. Mojo Rising]

ended up ordering this one. any quirks or suggestions for it?

Its a real PITA to assemble, I hate cleaning that thing to be honest, but mine is older so maybe they've made some modifications over the years. Besides assembly frustration, its a great unit, I only need to clean it every 4-5 months, so its not too bad. Good luck.

 

[eliaslikesfish]

Its a real PITA to assemble, I hate cleaning that thing to be honest, but mine is older so maybe they've made some modifications over the years. Besides assembly frustration, its a great unit, I only need to clean it every 4-5 months, so its not too bad. Good luck.

well, good thing youtube exists, assemblies make me lose my mind. very excited to get it up and running though, thanks for the suggestion!

 

[hobie61]

I have been using the Aquamax 1.5 for about 8 months. I too have a custom 45 gal. AIO. Not happy with its performance, for what is worth. I purchased it on recommendations and from BRS guidance. Found it to be a pain to for maintenance. Seems like once a month (or more) it needs attention. The inlet pipe strainer plugs easily. The sicce pump head also seems to get clogged quite often, and hard to reassemble. Needs to be kept fairly clean to make the air mixture. Then the pump is hard to slide down the housing. When it works, it does a decent job. Can be annoying at time with gurgle noises too. Been waiting for reef octopus 1000 to go on sale for a replacement. I used the Tunze 9004 before that and wasnt enough to do much good in the system. Hope helps.

 

[eliaslikesfish]

I have been using the Aquamax 1.5 for about 8 months. I too have a custom 45 gal. AIO. Not happy with its performance, for what is worth. I purchased it on recommendations and from BRS guidance. Found it to be a pain to for maintenance. Seems like once a month (or more) it needs attention. The inlet pipe strainer plugs easily. The sicce pump head also seems to get clogged quite often, and hard to reassemble. Needs to be kept fairly clean to make the air mixture. Then the pump is hard to slide down the housing. When it works, it does a decent job. Can be annoying at time with gurgle noises too. Been waiting for reef octopus 1000 to go on sale for a replacement. I used the Tunze 9004 before that and wasnt enough to do much good in the system. Hope helps.

well, I suppose i’ll just hope for the best. anyone have any idea why it is that almost all protein skimmers (HOB) at least seem to have some sort of quirk or annoyance?

 

[eliaslikesfish]

Its a real PITA to assemble, I hate cleaning that thing to be honest, but mine is older so maybe they've made some modifications over the years. Besides assembly frustration, its a great unit, I only need to clean it every 4-5 months, so its not too bad. Good luck.

they must’ve made some improvements, it took about 5 mins to set up and place on my tank this morning. checked it this evening and it’s already pulling gunk. no complaints yet (given it’s been 12 hours) except the external tube was too short so the water just pours into my back chamber, it’ll just be a little loud till i grab a piece of pvc about an inch longer.

 

[SliceGolfer]

they must’ve made some improvements, it took about 5 mins to set up and place on my tank this morning. checked it this evening and it’s already pulling gunk. no complaints yet (given it’s been 12 hours) except the external tube was too short so the water just pours into my back chamber, it’ll just be a little loud till i grab a piece of pvc about an inch longer.

I use this skimmer in my IM40L. I found if I turn the water exit elbow to point to the back wall of the tank (exit pointed towards the skimmer), this quieted the skimmer a lot. I use a C02 scrubber as well, and I can no longer hear the noise from the air intake.

 

[eliaslikesfish]

I use this skimmer in my IM40L. I found if I turn the water exit elbow to point to the back wall of the tank (exit pointed towards the skimmer), this quieted the skimmer a lot. I use a C02 scrubber as well, and I can no longer hear the noise from the air intake.

awesome. thanks so much! can you speak to it’s performance at all?

 

[SliceGolfer]

Very pleased with the performance of the skimmer. Easy to disassemble and clean, immediately starts to pull skimmate, and it is almost silent. I'll grab a pic tomorrow when my blue lights are off and show what it is pulling from the tank.

 

[eliaslikesfish]

Very pleased with the performance of the skimmer. Easy to disassemble and clean, immediately starts to pull skimmate, and it is almost silent. I'll grab a pic tomorrow when my blue lights are off and show what it is pulling from the tank.

after the first night…

 

[SliceGolfer]

Nice!

I cleaned my skimmer 3 days ago and this is the result. Very happy with the work it does!

 

[eliaslikesfish]

what height do you recommend i set the cup to? yours is higher up then mine, i just sort of guessed